VU – The Story of a Magazine that made an Era

"VU, the subject of 'VU - The Story of a Magazine that made an Era' was one of the most popular, fascinating an estimated 450,000 readers with its incisive photographic stories and eye-catching front covers of people and events from Paris to Shanghai.

Published between 1928 and 1940 in Paris, VU used more photographs than any other magazine, with 3,324 published in its first year. Unusually, these pictures were the main ingredient. They influenced the articles rather than the other way round.
Many of these images were unseen elsewhere, such as the first pictures of life in the Soviet Union by Lucien VOGEL or the groundbreaking snapshots taken on the streets by André KERTESZ, Henri CARTIER-BRESSON and others." (publisher's note)

"VU covered a wide and eclectic range of subjects including politics, world affairs, social issues, discoveries, exploration, the arts, sports, and entertainment. It intended to be an illustrated journal of the week s events a movie newsreel on paper and published work by some of the most important photographers of the time: Robert CAPA, Andr'e KERTESZ, Henri CARTIER-BRESSON, BRASSAI, MAN RAY, and more.
'VU - The Story of a Magazine that made an Era' gathers some of the best work from more than 600 issues of VU: covers, double-page spreads, and complete reports.
It provides both: a record of the prewar world of the twenties and thirties, and an unparalleled history of photojournalism in the early 20th century."

Review:

"The illustrated weekly magazine VU ran over 600 issues between March 21st, 1928 and May 29th, 1940.
Conceived as a beautiful ongoing film that would bring all of life within the range of the human eye, this weekly magazine was crammed with photographs and was designed to provide its readers with the same kind of experience as the cinema newsreels watched by millions of people each week.

'The text explains, the photo proves' was the magazines editorial motto. This book gives VU the attention it deserves by liberally reproducing a selection of front covers, pages and spreads from throughout its short but prolific history, together with the commentary and analysis they demand."